


Procrastinate Your Divorces

by BromocresolGreen



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Jumping to Conclusions, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Misunderstandings, POV Tony Stark, mentions of drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9244139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BromocresolGreen/pseuds/BromocresolGreen
Summary: "I mean, yeah, but after a while it was just easier to be married, 'cause like, the financial aid to start with, and now my insurance covers his psychologists, and he's been filing our taxes together since then— alright, laugh it up, Tony. My life is a comedy,"





	

     

"Tony. I need to tell you something, a-and this is really weird and actually a little embarrassing, so I need you to not interrupt or make assumptions until I'm done"

They’re on Steve’s couch, him on his back and Tony kneeling over him. Tony’s shirt is crumpled up behind one of the cushions, and with a bit of luck, his jeans will end up there too. Honestly, its really late, he should politely excuse himself and go home, but he feels so awake, and they were kissing until just a moment ago, when Steve had interrupted.

“Can it wait till the morning?” Tony asks, then continues pressing kisses across Steve’s skin; on his cheek, further to his jawline, down his neck—

He whines as Steve pushes him away, gently but firmly. “This should be now, before we, uh” Steve pauses, and its really unfair how cute he is, struggling for words. He curses all day long, but talking about them is what trips him up. “before we do anything else. We should talk before we do anything else,” He gestures vaguely to the two of them, and yeah, Tony’s not gonna get him to say ‘fuck’ this time around.

Steve looks at him, and Tony isn’t really sure if he’s glaring, or just making eye contact, or what. The moment drags on, and for a second Tony wonders if Steve’s gonna back out of this, yes, the past few weeks have been fun, and you’ve been a good friend for longer, but I don’t want anything serious, so I want to end this now before I do something I regret, and you should leave me alone and— _wow_ that got depressing fast. Get it together Tony. He’s not gonna break up with you, or at least, not now. Maybe in a few months, after he’s seen you locked in your workshop, ignored for days, then messy and drunk, but not now.

Steve is determined about this, so it must be serious. Tony reluctantly takes his hands out from under Steve's shirt, and sits up straight. Steve repositions the two of them, so it's more they're sitting next to each other, and not Tony lying on top of him.

Tony takes both of Steve hands in his own, more to ground himself than anything. "Talk to me, I'm listening" Tony looks at Steve expectantly.

"Ok, Jesus Christ, relax. It's not that serious, it's just something you deserve to know" He doesn't let go of Tony's hands, but he smiles at him. Ok. Not the end of the world. Tony can relax. Relaxing is a thing Tony can do. Tony is capable of relaxing.

"So what is it then? What's so important, that you haaaave to tell me?" Tony asks, drawing out the vowels obnoxiously, mock-light when he’s nervous.

"Ok, it's sort of serious," Steve admits. "It's about when I went to Vegas a few years ago,"

"That's it? Your Vegas vacation?" Tony laughs, "what happened, did you get married?"

Steve's lips press together for a moment before he answers, "Yes,"

OK wow, well then, that was _not_ at all what Tony was expecting.

"Well are you still married?" Please say no, say no, Tony won't, he can't be someone's dirty secret, he's not someone's fling. Steve might actually break up with him, shit. The guilt got to him, no more lying to the missus, good-bye Tony! We had fun while it lasted! Oh god, Steve isn't answering, just staring at him, he's married, fuck, Tony wanted this to last, damn it, he wanted—

"Ok, Tony calm down. Yes, I am still married, but it's not what you think," Steve says, slowly and calmly. Tony wants to push his hands away and maybe hide in the bathroom, he can barely believe this, “If you want to leave," Steve continues, “I won't stop you, but I need to explain this before...that"

"Ok" Tony says, barely above a whisper.

"Ok," Steve repeats. "Vegas. Uhh. We were drinking, but not like, blackout drunk, just like, when bad ideas start to make sense. If you’re married to and living with another college student, you get better federal aid, and depending on your location, a stipend to help pay rent. And someone mentioned that, and, yeah. I got married,"

Tony interrupts "What’s her name?"

"His name," Steve corrects, "and it's Bucky,"

Steve's childhood friend Bucky, his high school crush, his roommate, oh god, Bucky is his husband and Tony is here in their apartment, intruding. That’s probably why they’re on the couch, Steve’s not going to ruin _their bed_ for this.

"Tony, there was never anything romantic between me and Bucky, you know that,"

Ok. Tony does know that. Steve has told him "You kissed him once in high school and he ignored you for a week after that," Tony tries to smile, but doesn’t quite manage it.

"Yeah," Steve smiles back, sort of, "But, yeah, we got married in Vegas and never divorced, I mean, we started the paperwork, but New York divorce laws are…frustrating, and we had to get lawyers involved; it was a mess. So we just sort of pushed it off and we're still not divorced. But we did get the financial aid increase, so it wasn’t for nothing,"

What the fuck, "You married your best friend for financial aid and then procrastinated your divorce"

"I mean, yeah, but after a while it was just easier to be married, 'cause like, the financial aid to start with, and now my insurance covers his psychologists, and he's been filing our taxes together since then— alright, laugh it up, Tony. My life is a comedy,"

"You're married because of insurance and taxes! This is ridiculous, Steve!" Oh wow, insurance and taxes. Tony is relieved, almost giddy with it. This is seriously, the definition for marriage of convenience. No love ruined, him and Steve are cool. No problems. Actually, wait—

"Do you wear a ring; did he even get you a ring?”

"No rings,"

Tony laughs (he giggles, really, but you can’t make him say it) "Great, I would've melted them down,”

"Tony!" Steve exclaims, but he's laughing too.

"But seriously, will you ever divorce him?"

"I mean, eventually, yeah. When I meet someone I want to marry for real, Bucky will have to find his own insurance," and all joking aside, he's looking at Tony, and suddenly this is too intense.

"Jesus, Rogers, proposing already?" Ha ha. Very funny. So funny, isn’t it guys? Marry Tony, ha ha, what an idiot.

"God no!" Steve shouts, and leans back. Tony wasn’t conscious of how close they were until then. ‘God no,’ of course not. Tony wasn’t really expecting anything different, but that’s not something he really needs to hear, is it? At a normal volume, Steve continues "I care about you very much Tony, and I want this, whatever it is between the two of us, I want this to last as long as it can. But I don't want to rush into getting married"

"OK, that's better. Much better," That’s actually really sweet, shit; Tony can’t fuck this up.

"Besides, it's poor etiquette to propose marriage before dissolving your previous unions,"

Tony shoots him an unimpressed glare. Steve’s a fucking dork. He can't keep a straight face and Tony just has to smile at him, then they're both laughing again. They don’t go back to kissing, and Tony’s not sure he really wants to. Emotional whiplash like wow. Steve pulls Tony closer so that he leans against Steve’s chest. Their arms get in the way (that hurts, fuck!), but after a bit of maneuvering, and Steve turning off the light, Tony thinks he likes this better. He can hear Steve’s heartbeat, and wow, Steve is warm. This is good, this is very good.

“Good night, Tony” Steve says.

“Sleep well,” Tony answers. For a moment he wonders if he'll have a nightmare here, but then decides it's not a real problem. Yeah, nightmares suck, but worst case scenario, Steve knows what its like, so they're fine. They lay in silence for a while, but Tony feels he should say something more, like, really, he has to say something.

“Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“What you said before, about wanting us to last as long as we can?” Steve nods, “I feel the same way,”

Steve kisses his forehead. “Thank you. It” he says, "It means a lot to me to hear that,"

“You’re welcome,” Tony says, not really sure how to respond now. “Now go to sleep,”

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stark, right on it,"

Tony groans, "Steve, you're a dork, you know that,"

Steve laughs, as lovely as always, even if its weird hearing it with his ear on Steve's chest.

"Good night Tony,"

"Good night Steve,"

Steve's heartbeat’s the best kind of white noise, Tony decides. He falls into a peaceful dreamless sleep listening.


End file.
